Dr. Ijeoma Ogbonnaya
Associate Professor
Arizona State University
School of Social Work
Phoenix, AZ, USA
Dr. Ijeoma Nwabuzor Ogbonnaya is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at Arizona State University. Her research investigates how intimate partner violence (IPV) and IPV services impact health and well-being and how this impact varies across culture, race, and ethnicity. She focuses on populations most vulnerable to IPV, including child welfare system-involved families and people living with HIV.
See full bio in Research Group Members – Affiliated Investigators.
Dr. Katelyn Sileo
Associate Professor
Boston College
Boston, MA, USA
Dr. Katelyn (Katy) Sileo, Ph.D., M.P.H., is an Associate Professor at the Connell School of Nursing and faculty in the Program for Global Public Health and the Common Good at Boston College. She is trained in global public health, with a geographic focus on sub–Saharan Africa. Her research aims to understand and intervene on multilevel determinants of sexual and reproductive health inequities, with a particular interest in the intersection of gender norms and health outcomes in global settings. Her current work focuses on using community-engaged and mixed methods to develop and evaluate gender-transformative behavioral and health system interventions to improve HIV and family planning outcomes in Uganda.
See full bio in Research Group Members – Affiliated Investigators.
Dr. Alexandra Almeida
Researcher
Sergio Arouca National School of Public Health (ENSP)
Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ)
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Dr. Almeida is a researcher at FIOCRUZ with a BSc in statistics (UFRJ), a Ph.D. in Epidemiology and Public Health (ENSP/FIOCRUZ), and a Ph.D. in Substance Use (SDSU & UCSD), with a data scientist heart. Her research involves modern statistical models to approach public health problems, with a special crush on natural language processing. Her research areas have recently been syndemics of transmissible and chronic diseases, digital epidemiology, and infoveillance.
Dr. Michael Ediau
Researcher
Makerere University School of Public Health
Kampala, Uganda
Dr. Michael Ediau completed a Ph.D. in Public Health (Global Health) from San Diego State University and the University of California San Diego – Joint Doctoral Program in Public Health (JDP). His research interests include maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS prevention, epidemiology, health systems, monitoring and evaluation, non-communicable disease prevention, implementation science, and digital payment systems for health campaign frontline health workers. He is a research associate at the Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH) in Kampala, Uganda. Before joining the JDP, he was the Resident Mentor for the Master of Public Health Program at the MakSPH. He also served as a Public Health Specialist – Implementation Science with the US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention – Uganda. Before that, he worked with various organizations, implementing public health research and development interventions. He has over 15 years of accumulated working experience (including at the managerial level). Thus, his well-grounded experience combines practical field, research, program management and leadership, and academic (teaching and mentoring students) experience. As someone who was born and raised and has worked in East Africa (Uganda), he is passionate about how evidence-based public health interventions can significantly transform communities, particularly those in resource-limited settings.
Dr. Kazi Priyanka Silmi
Postdoctoral Fellow
Ohio State University
Columbus, OH, USA
Kazi Priyanka Silmi Ph.D. is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at the College of Medicine of The Ohio State University. Her research aims to improve healthcare and social support for people who struggle with help-seeking due to social and structural barriers related to mental health, substance use, and violence. Her current research examines social determinants of substance use among minority youth utilizing community-based qualitative data as well as the large quantitative dataset of the ongoing ABCD (Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development) study. She has over a decade of research and service experience with HIV, sexual assault and intimate partner violence, substance use, and mental health. She completed her PhD in Public Health (Global Health) from the SDSU-UCSD Joint Doctoral Program and has worked with populations in the US, Bangladesh, Uganda, Botswana, and Mexico.
Dr. Katherine Schmarje Crockett
Senior Data Manager
Central Valley Community Foundation
Fresno, CA, USA
Dr. Crockett is a Senior Data Manager at the Central Valley Community Foundation (CVCF), where she leads the development and implementation of measurement and evaluation methodologies for 14 Fresno DRIVE initiatives. She manages all data collection, analysis, and dissemination, while providing technical assistance to CVCF staff and partners. Katie also oversees consultant work and leads the design of Salesforce CRM systems for key initiatives. In addition to her role at CVCF, Katie teaches online courses in infectious disease epidemiology and health data analysis at SDSU. She has extensive prior experience as the data manager for a research team focused on improving access to HIV care in rural Uganda. Her research has explored nuanced aspects of HIV stigma, including stigma intersectionality, changes in stigma post-diagnosis, and the psychometric properties of stigma scales.
Diego Ceballos, MPH, MLAS student
San Diego State University
San Diego, CA, USA
Diego A. Ceballos is pursuing a dual degree Master’s in Public Health and Latin American studies at San Diego State University. He is a first-generation graduate student and proud son to Mexican immigrant parents. He has worked in research for over 3 years with expertise in conducting qualitative data collection. He has been involved in projects ranging from assessing the COVID-19 vaccine rollout for the Latinx community in South San Diego, developing a guide to include community health workers/promotoras de salud in university research, to evaluating the engagement of racial equity for minoritized students in the work of institutional research offices at California community colleges. His master’s thesis is centered on exploring how masculinity has influenced decisions about the COVID-19 vaccine among Mexican men in Tijuana.
Dr. Betânia Mara de Freitas Nogueira
Institute of Clinical and Translational Research Zarns College, Clariens Educação
Salvador, Brazil
Postgraduate Program in Health Sciences Federal University of Bahia
Salvador, Brazil
Dr. Nogueira is a physician and researcher at the Institute of Clinical and Translational Research in Salvador, Brazil, and is currently pursuing a PhD at the Federal University of Bahia. She received an MPH in Epidemiology from San Diego State University.
Cynthia Sanchez, MPH
Recent MPH graduate University of California Berkeley School of Public Health
Current: Fellow in the Kaiser Permanente Health Administration Fellowship
Berkeley, CA, USA
Cynthia Sanchez was raised in Calexico, a small border town in Southern California. Her upbringing influenced her interest in public health and advocating for communities like hers within higher education and healthcare. Therefore, after her undergraduate program at UCSD, Cynthia gained experience in community organizing, outreach, and research, which further shaped her interests and understanding of community needs. She then decided to pursue an MPH at UC Berkeley and upon graduation was selected for the Northern California Kaiser Permanente Health Administrative Fellowship. Cynthia continues to expand her skills in health management, program development, and strategic thinking to improve health outcomes and promote health equity.
Dr. Caroline Adjimi Nyemgah
Recent PhD graduate
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
London, UK
Dr. Adjimi is a recent graduate of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine with a PhD in Public Health and Policy in the Department of Global Health and Development. Her goal is to work with the health and human services system to alleviate the suffering of others. Dr. Adjimi has played a key role in advancing research, policy analysis, and advocacy initiatives in public health, particularly in Gender-Based Violence (GBV). She aims for this research to raise awareness and educate women about their rights, and to create safe havens in response to violence where women can share their experiences and access help without fear of retaliation from their partners.
Building Research Initiatives Advancing Global Health Equity (BRIDGE) at San Diego State University
